What you sign before we tour,
and how I get paid.

Nothing to sign. A phone call, a coffee, a long email with every question you have: none of that requires paperwork. We talk about what you are solving for, roughly what you can spend, and how Massachusetts does things differently. If we are not a fit, you have lost an hour and gained a few answers.

The forms only appear when we go from talking in general to looking at a specific home together. That line matters, and I keep to it.

Massachusetts requires every agent to hand you a one-page state form the first time we meet in person to discuss a specific property. It is called the Mandatory Licensee-Consumer Relationship Disclosure, and it is a notice, not a contract. Your signature says you received it. It does not hire me, and it does not commit you to anything.

The form explains the ways an agent can work with you here: as the seller's agent, as your agent, as a neutral go-between the state calls a facilitator, or as a designated agent inside a brokerage that also represents the seller. I check the box that says I work for you, and I will walk you through the others so you recognize them when another agent hands you the same page.

Before we tour a home together, we sign a written buyer agreement. The rules every agent on the listing service works under have required this since August 2024, and it is a good rule. It names me as your agent, lists what I will do for you, sets how long it runs, and states how I am paid: the exact amount or percentage, in numbers, which the rules say cannot be left open.

It also carries a line in plain sight that says broker fees are fully negotiable and not set by law. That line is there because it is true. The scope is up to us. It can cover one showing, one neighborhood, or the whole search, and it can be exclusive or not. We decide that together before you sign, not after.

It does not obligate you to buy a home. It does not obligate you to buy any particular home, to offer any particular price, or to stay in the search if your life changes. It does not stop you from asking me anything, and it does not hand your information to anyone else.

It has an end date you agreed to, and it does not renew on its own. Most agreements include one clause worth knowing about: for a short window after it ends, if you buy a home I showed you during our time together, the fee is still owed. I will point to that clause when we sign, because it is the one people are surprised by later.

Only at closing, and only if you buy. The amount is whatever the agreement says, a percentage of the price or a flat number, and it is negotiable between us. No law sets it, no association sets it, and the rules I work under say I cannot collect more than that agreed amount from anyone, no matter who pays it.

Nothing changes hands during the search. No retainer, no hourly rate, no fee for a showing that goes nowhere. If you never buy, I was never paid, and that is the arrangement I signed up for.

Sellers and their brokers can still offer to cover some or all of your agent's fee, and in Boston many do, because it makes their home easier to buy. Since 2024 that offer is not advertised on the listing, so I ask, every time, and we can write it into your offer as a term the seller agrees to.

Whatever the seller's side covers comes straight off what you owe. If they cover all of it, you owe nothing beyond that. If they cover none, the number you owe is the one already in writing, and we decide together whether to build it into the offer price or pay it at closing. Either way you knew the number before we ever toured.

Sometimes the home you want is listed by another agent at my brokerage. Massachusetts handles that with something called designated agency: the office assigns one agent to the seller and one to you, and each of us works for our own client. It is disclosed to you in writing and it needs your consent.

You can say no. If you do, we talk about the options, which include another agent representing you on that one home. My loyalty does not move because of who holds the listing, and I would rather tell you that before it comes up than explain it in the middle of an offer.

On the end date, or earlier if we both agree, or earlier still under whatever exit terms are written into it. If the search is not working, say so. I would rather release you than hold you to a piece of paper, and the agreement will say how that happens.

When you buy, the agreement has done its job. What comes next is the closing, and after that the two filings with deadlines that save you money for years: the property tax discount for living in your home, and the homestead form. Both are on this site, and I will remind you.